Married Women's Economic Dependency, 1940-1980

A fundamental assumption of stratification theory is that the family is the unit of stratification, with no inequality between husband and wife. The argument here is that the condition for this spousal equality is the economic dependency of married women and that an examination of dependency is essential for understanding women's societal position. This paper examines changes in the extent to which married women were economically dependent on their husbands from 1940 to 1980. The finding is that the situation in 1980 is greatly different from the situation in 1940, when the vast majority of married women were completely dependent on spouses for economic support. Today, completely dependent wives constitute a distinct minority. Minority women have been less dependent than white women throughout this period. Married women become less dependent as they grow older, owing in part to the Social Security benefits that accrue to them regardless of work-force participation. A multivariate analysis pinpoints the source of most marital dependency as being the labor supply of married women. It also shows that married women must work longer hours than their husbands to contribute equally to family income.